Team Sky’s Danny Van Poppel won by a photo-finish over reigning blue jersey wearer Dylan Groenewegen in a quite thrilling sprint finish on day two of the Tour de Yorkshire in Doncaster.

Van Poppel won the 135km stage from Otley by the narrowest of margins, squeezing his wheel ahead of Groenewegen’s in the teeming rain on South Parade.

It was a stirring finale and just rewards for the thousands who had waited by the finish line in deteriorating conditions, for the day’s second instalment of world class cycling.

Earlier, Kirsten Wild won the Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire in a similarly dramatic sprint finish to clinch the richest prize in the history of women’s cycling, denying Yorkshire heroine Lizzie Armitstead in the process.

Groenewegen’s second place in the men’s race means he retains the leader’s blue jersey going into the third and final day, a testing 198km slog from Middlesbrough to Scarborough on Sunday.

Skipton’s Pete Williams held the jersey for the King of the Mountains after winning it on day one, but he had to relinquish it on Saturday - but only to a team-mate, OnePro Cycling’s Richard Handley.

Frenchman Nicolas Edet of Cofidis, who has always done well on Yorkshire’s roads dating back to the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014, took the jersey for being the most aggressive rider, after single-handedly chasing down a six-man break that including NFTO rider Josh Edmondson of Leeds.